


Out of the Loop

by newagecynicism



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pocket Monsters: Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire | Pokemon Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire Versions, Pokemon Generations (Anime)
Genre: Humor, Implied Sexual Content, Potentially smut in later chapters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-05
Updated: 2019-11-04
Packaged: 2020-11-24 14:47:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,546
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20909393
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/newagecynicism/pseuds/newagecynicism
Summary: As a Team Magma admin, Tabitha is secure in thinking he's always one of the first to know about any goings on related to the team. This changes when he begins to observe some odd new behaviours from his co-admin, and only gets more confusing when he begins to see the same in his boss.





	1. Curiouser and Curiouser

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I saw someone suggest a Maxie x Courtney headcanon on Tumblr that they were secretly together for some time before the awakening of Groudon and its aftermath. I then kept thinking of humorous scenarios in which a naive Tabitha keeps suspecting something strange is going on with the two but can't quite connect the dots.
> 
> Also, Courtney's characterisation is more so based on what can be inferred from Generations than ORAS - simply because I personally find that more socially open and more flirtatious persona more compatible with my own headcanons for her getting together with Maxie.
> 
> Lydia is basically just a slightly fleshed out grunt character I threw in because we've pretty much never seen Courtney interact with other female characters aside from the ORAS female playable character and I just love the idea of her having a best gal pal and confidante - especially given I get the impression the upper ranks of Team Magma are largely a sausage factory aside from her.

Courtney’s room was always the image of neatness whenever Tabitha saw it. There was scarcely a book out of place, let alone would you ever see an unmade bed or disorganised clothing. Come to think of it, her closet door wasn’t ever even left a crack open, and one could easily mistake her neatly made bed for having gone mostly unused for at least some time.

Now, these seemingly minor details would have meant nothing to him had he not known her for as long as he had. In spite of her extensive devotion to the Team Magma cause that none could ever fault her on; she did have occasional scatter-brained moments– particularly when she was not working towards a clear goal at a given time. This combination of dedication and a tendency to slip into disorganisation was for a long time reflected in her disarrayed dormitory at the Magma base in Lilycove. This had suddenly changed, if he recalled correctly, about two months ago. When he had half-jokingly inquired as to the reasons for her new-found domestic aptitude, she had given a response along the lines of now realising the importance of a well-maintained living space in retaining balance in one’s life. 

This had only confused him further. Though he was well aware that Courtney was certainly an intelligent young woman, there was an unusual formality and rehearsed quality that he had never heard her undertake in casual, social conversation before. Both this and the spiritual, introspective nature of the comment were unfamiliar to the effervescent and somewhat coquettish Courtney those closer to her knew. Despite his on going state of perplexity, Tabitha vowed to dismiss it as unimportant (and not just because he really had no clue what the true meaning behind it could be – his book smarts far surpassed his ability at reading unspoken social cues). Besides, no other explanation seemed to make any sense. Why would she suddenly not be staying in her room? A lot of her things were still visibly there, so if she was staying anywhere else at night it would be elsewhere in the base, which made even less sense. With a subtle shrug to himself, Tabitha went about his day’s business.

However, as the week continued, Tabitha found himself once again drawn to the new element of mystery surrounding the behaviour of his co-admin. He told himself his uncharacteristic interest in her social life was likely due to it being a ‘slow week’ for Magma operations and having run out of books to read – his brain needed some sort of stimuli, no matter how seemingly shallow. One morning he spotted her (lilac cropped hair was not difficult to discern from the steely industrial black-on-red walls that made up the research rooms and the majority of the base) sitting at a desk examining some papers alongside Lydia, an grunt who was probably her closest friend out of the whole team. A brief message came over the PA system bearing the haughty and authoritative voice that everyone ceased action to give due regard to. Their esteemed leader was a man of relatively few emotions, outside of his mostly withheld flaring temper, but his speech always caught the necessary attention. It was after the bulletin ceased that things once again got intriguing on the Courtney front.

Lydia looked at Courtney with a smug, teasing smile and whispered something to her that prompted a momentary blush and aversion of the eyes before Courtney herself looked back to her friend with a suggestive smile and nodded. She then leaned towards Lydia, and whatever the extension of her response had been prompted the grunt’s eyes to snap fully open; eyebrows shot up in accompaniment along with a slightly gaping mouth whose lips were tugging upwards into a grin nonetheless before forming the only response that was slow and deliberate enough to be lip-read; “You didn’t!”. She lightly smacked her friend on the arm and returned to the papers – shortly followed by a still smirking Courtney.

Now that was definitely strange, Tabitha mused to himself. Why on Earth had Leader Maxie’s mundane morning bulletin prompted that adolescent-esque exchange? He knew there was a naturally humorous rapport between the two girls but this was uncharacteristic even for them. What was it that had prompted Lydia to regard Courtney with that strangely knowing expression that prompted a blush? What was it that her best friend couldn’t fathom she had done? And what on Arceus’ earth did any of this have to do with Leader Maxie?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's how it starts for poor confused Tabitha! Boy has some sleuthing to do if he wants to stay on top of internal Magma goings on it seems. I'm thinking of doing some other POVs later in the story as well (e.g. Courtney's on how her and Maxie actually got started) so let me know what you think of that idea and thanks for reading!


	2. There's Business To Attend To

The past week of hectic operations at the Magma base had consumed all of Tabitha's attention. He had been tasked by Maxie with preparing and training a fleet of grunts for a raid in Slateport City to acquire vital parts and blueprints for the the specially designed submarine under construction at the shipyard - the only submarine in Hoenn specifically designed to be able to penetrate the rigid rock walls of the Seafloor Cavern. Maxie had made it clear that acquiring the submarine before anyone else (least of all Team Aqua) could get their hands on it was unshakeably imperative to their grand mission. Knowledge of the gravitas of the situation had only made Tabitha the more determined to drill the grunts to the best of his ability. He just hoped his nerves had been repressed enough as to not have had an adverse effect on their focus or morale ahead of tomorrow's all important task.

So steely had Tabitha's commitment been that he had given little to no thought to his prior strange observations about Courtney. He had enquired to Maxie as to why he was given the grunt preparation task over Courtney - knowing she had undertaken such work with success numerous times in the past. 

"She won't have time" was the blunt response he was given, though he noted his leader's words came out uncharacteristic somehow. The innate self-assuredness was dialled down somewhat and he seemed to rush the answer out slightly before punctuating it with an involuntary cough.

"Oh, what's she working on? I hadn't heard of her having an ongoing assignment right now or I wouldn't have asked.."

"Is it really necessary that you know her full itinerary?" Maxie cut him off, suddenly visibly irritated "Why is it so important to you to know what she's doing anyway?". Tabitha may have been mistaken due to being slightly shocked at his boss' harsh response, but he swore he heard something of a snarl in Maxie's voice in the latter question. This,combined with the narrow glare his eyes were now exercising directly at his admin and the hand gripping his desk's edge with visible intent, suggested this carried more severity than a typical sarcastic remark. 

"It isn't,sir. I meant nothing by it..nothing personally pertaining to Courtney anyway.." Tabitha replied with a slight nervous stutter jarring the flow of his speech as he attempted to quell his leader's annoyance. It mattered little how long he'd been with Magma, being on the receiving end of Maxie's ire was never something one grew acclimatised to. Tabitha felt a telltale line of sweat begin to bead along his brow and he hoped it wasn't visible under the office light that somehow appeared as intense as a desert sun in drought season when he stood in the firing line of his leader's scowl.

"I just wanted to know if there was any part of the next phase of the mission going ahead that I was unaware of, that's all" he concluded, tilting his head down slightly as if to solidify his apologetic submission.

"Hmmph" was the brief acceptance he was granted. "I don't believe we have anything further to discuss Tabitha. Ensure your group is at peak performance for tomorrow" he commissioned,before picking up a paper from his desk and rotating his high-backed chair with a sharp swivel that obscured him entirely from Tabitha's view.

"Affirmative,sir" Tabitha responded with the remainder of his anxiety still audible in the jitter in his tone. He turned and paced out of the office with an mental resolve that, for the foreseeable future, he would discuss only his own tasks with Maxie to avoid such an occurrence repeating itself. As his eyes averted to the right just before he exited (a nervous habit he was well acquainted with), he spied a slightly oddly shaped red jacket slung carelessly across the back of the extended armchair on the other side of the room. The final detail he caught before the door was the protrusion of two yellow horns from the hood - the identification factor. This was Courtney's jacket.

Now safely on the other side of the danger zone, Tabitha continued for several paces before pulling off to the side to lean against a wall and try and discern what precisely had just happened. He rubbed at his left temple slightly as he tried to make sense of the sudden highly uncharacteristic protectiveness Maxie had exhibited over Courtney, the likes of which he'd never seen displayed in anywhere near the same manner towards another individual working for the team. Maxie was without doubt a leader who seldom bothered in observing any social goings on between his employees and certainly never engaged in them himself. So what his his sudden almost aggressive concern over Tabitha enquiring as to what Courtney was working on? And why was her jacket just left in his quarters like that? It was in plain sight so there was no way Maxie wouldn't have come across it unless he hadn't moved to the other side of the room all day. Aside from that, Courtney would presumably never have been alone in Maxie's office to have put it there without his noting, and why had she left it so carelessly in their leader's office of all places?

Amongst the tumbling array of questions sweeping Tabitha's wracking brain came a reminder of the previous week's odd observation of Courtney and Lydia exchanging whispers and giggles when they heard Maxie's bulletin, and he began to try and fit all of these odd pieces together. He could reach only one logical conclusion...

Courtney was vying to usurp him as executive admin and unofficial deputy leader and Maxie was heavily considering it. Maxie was trying to keep this a secret from Tabitha, hence his reaction to his asking about Courtney, he may have had suspicion Tabitha had figured something out and was warning him off the scent. That also explained why Courtney was seemingly so busy as of late, and that she likely let her little friend in on the secret and they were amusing themselves with their withheld knowledge.

Tabitha knew not whether to feel angry,betrayed or vengeful - there was something of all three bitterly brewing in him at this prospect. Then, he thought of the Slateport mission - a golden opportunity to prove himself to Maxie. He cast aside the internal lurching of emotions and acquired his steely dedication to the task at hand. He would prove himself to be more than worthy of his position once and for all once his tutelage leads their men to a great early success in the Groudon pursuit.

_Yes_, Tabitha mused to himself with a restored sense of confidence, _that's what I ought to do_. It was after all surely the only reasonable way to deal with the scenario at hand which in itself was the only reasonable scenario to explain all the oddities that he had borne witness to. The only other notion that had floated through his head for a brief moment, before he laughed at its outlandishness, was the ridiculous prospect that they were having some sort of sordid affair. _Good grief_, he almost cackled aloud, _imagine that..._.

"Would you happen to know why Tabitha is taking such an interest in you as of late?" 

Courtney shifted from where she had sat, slipping her uniform dress down her shoulders, and fixed confused eyes on the crimson-haired male who was situated on the other side of the bed and hadn't yet glanced away from his laptop after making the enquiry. She felt a sense of embittered amusement with an irritated undertone as she responded rather incredulously "Tabitha? Leader Maxie, what on earth are you implying?" before squinting at him.

"Don't call me that when we're in bed Courtney, it's far too formal to befit" Maxie retorted, before becoming aware of his precarious choice of words and the amused knowing smirk she fixed him with at them. "Well..I didn't mean...you know there is a difference between being in bed and being _in bed_ and that different...names and...titles...work for those different situations" he finished, using a remarkable amount of energy to suppress the heat he felt creeping up his neck. "That's neither here nor there in this conversation though, I've never noticed it before but he seems to be very concerned with your goings on. I think it's inappropriate"

"I haven't noticed anything odd when i've spoken to him, nor has anyone else suggested anything like that". "I _really_ don't think he is interested in me in any way" she let out an airy laugh at the notion, before noticing Maxie was still fixing her with an unamused gaze beneath his glasses. "Please don't be like that.."

"Like what?" he snapped.

"Jealous, especially not of Tabitha of all people".

"Jealousy is an adolescent emotion and quite frankly I'm insulted you would even draw such a conclusion from my perfectly legitimate question."

"Then why do you have that glass of water in a vice grip?" Courtney questioned with a slight tilt of the head, reaching out to brush across his occupied left hand softly and failing to suppress the girlish grin that sparks up on her face at the stubborn sigh her lover emits.

She stands to slide off the remainder of her dress, bending to tug as it clings about her hips a tad and relishing the low hum of approval as she does so, before settling herself under the covers and laying her head on his shoulder to fix him with a sincerely affectionate gaze. "I like that you're very protective of me. Truly. I don't wish to belittle you for it and I'm sorry if I got to you at all."

"Well I suppose its no matter" Maxie concluded both to her and himself. "What would you even want with Tabitha anyway?" he smirked as he began to slide a hand deliberately up the inside of her thigh, the gasp and squirming motion it provoked from the younger woman only further stroking his superfluous ego. Well he was,after all, the Great Maxie - the man who founded and headed Hoenn's foremost upstart environmental organisation (at least, that was the title he gave it on the tax filings), the man who would awaken the ancient legendary Pokemon and perform the momentous feat of expanding the landmass and exponentially boost the future of humanity, and the man who did it all with a beautiful, keenly intelligent and resourceful beyond her years young woman at his side by day and in his bed by night.

The future was looking bright, and tomorrow's inevitable success would continue he and his organisation on the path to glory.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, things are just getting more and more dramatic around Magma HQ. Wouldn't Team Aqua just be endlessly amused by all this gossip? (they may well make an appearance later on). We'll have to see how Tabitha's new plans play out and whether Maxie and Courtney can continue to keep things under wraps, not to mention the whole 'awakening Groudon' business, the outcome of which could be anyone's guess ;) 
> 
> Once again thank you to any and all for reading,kudos etc. Comments and any suggestions are always appreciated and see you next time.


End file.
